Fuel
by xxenigma9291
Summary: The adrenaline was starting to build up slowly, along with the furry that sparked inside.


_I think I've been watching Four Brother's too much lately. I've watched it for probably the trillionth time. Out of nowhere this morning, I woke up with a dream about Bobby and Jack. I was on my laptop writing out the second chapter of 'You are not alone', and then suddenly, the dream came into my mind. So here I am, publishing this nifty little one shot, and hoping to get some reviews from fellow readers. This is my first one-shot since I like to write chapters. I hope this wasn't too rushed or anything. And I hope you all enjoy it._

Once more, I don't own Four Brothers. If I did, just imagine the little possibilities and everything else I could add in between.

"Keep on cleaning, Mercer. You still have five more minutes until your detention is over" The teacher shouted from behind the safety of his desk. Mr. Matricardi, an Economics teacher, one of five Hockey coaches of my High School and American History teacher, and a very snappy one at that, too. Imagine a very overweight teacher in his mid thirties, a shiny bald head, piercing emerald eyes, and with a classroom policy so strict, I think even the guy's from the military would cry. Alright, maybe that's exaggerating a little too much, but if you had him as a teacher, you'd agree with me.

Detention with Mr. Matricardi wasn't fun at all. School ended at three o' clock, and I normally went home and watched a few hockey games before going outside to have a small pick up game. Of course though as always, this pig had to interrupt my daily routine in hopes of ruining my life. Every day, we were at each other's throats with smart remarks or with idled comments. I didn't care if I got in trouble, just as long as I put him in his place.

"If you keep complaining, I swear to God, Coach, I'm gonna pop you until you're black and blue" I snapped at him as I continued to sweep the ground, glaring at him from the corner of my eyes. Detention was something I didn't get often; that was usually used to minor 'crimes' in school. I usually got suspended or sometimes even kicked out of the school. There were several occassions on where I've been taken to a juvenile detention center for a lot of reasons, one of which being that I broke a kids nose and ended up getting surgery. It's not my fault he hit me with a book, so I simply returned the favor on my terms. Stupid punk deserved it too. For this punishment, I simply threw a pencil on the coach's face over a comment he said. Hey, it made him shut up, so all this cleaning for one hour was actually worth it.

I felt the side of my pocket vibrate as I flipped out my cellphone, reading over the text that I had received from my younger brother Jerry.

'_Hey man, what's the hold up? It's almost four o'clock and you ain't here yet!_'.

"Bobby, last I checked, no electronic devices are permitted within school hours, or when you are serving a punishment. I'll be adding another day of detention on your record for a Saturday" Matricardi's voice blossomed into the room before I glanced at him, placing the broom on the corner of the room.

"And I'll be adding another pencil mark on your face".

As I parked the car right on the drive-way, I turned off my car and climed out. Sweeping the entire classroom, along with cleaning desks and even going far as to wiping off the chalkboard from the writing it had had me a little pooped out. I planned on watching a Hockey game before going out to hang out with some friends, but I guess I'd have to post-pone that for tomorrow or something. The guy's would understand, if not, there was always slamming them against the sidelines or _accidently_ bumping into them out in the ice. That would leave a mark in the morning.

I walked up towards the front door step and was just about to open the door, but instead, the door opened by itself. More specifically, Jack had been the one that opened the door for me. The little bastard had moved in with us once Mom had gotten the adoption papers signed about five months ago. He didn't talk at all, he was actually pretty quiet. The only thing the kid did was stare out the window of his room, or draw stupid little cartoons on a sheet of paper. All he ever said was 'Thank you' or 'Good Morning' or anything else formal. Conversations were out of the question.

"Move the hell out the way, Jack" I mumbled towards the seemingly frightened boy as he immediately zipped up the stairs, lifting up a brow. What was biting his pants? Always living with constant paranoia.

"Bobby. How was detention?" My mother's voice rang from the kitchen as I groaned to myself. How the hell did she find out that I got in trouble? I thought the school wasn't calling her? Damn you, Matricardi. Once Hockey season starts, I'm definitely gonna use your body as a puck. I closed the door behind me as I walked inside, taking off the beanie from my head and laid it down on the couch. Mom was on the couch with a small ball of yarn, with two needles going over and under between each other, followed by a long string of what seemed to be a blanket still in the making in a red and white color. She had been working on making a blanket for an unknown reason for the past three days. It was pretty long right now, but the ball of yarn had still to run out. I guess she was gonna use up the whole thing.

"Don't give me a lecture, Ma. I had enough torture from the coach" I mumbled underneath my breath as I walked over towards the kitchen, and pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge.

"You're not pulling a fast one on me, Son. Now come and enjoy a small little art's and craft's program with me for about an hour".

Someone just pull the plug already.

That program was just terrible. Awful. Torture. Mom didn't have to yell at me, or anything to get me right down to the bone. Enduring long programs that lasted for an eternity was enough to shake my brain and kill the rain cells, or whatever cells I have left in there.

Knock Knock.

Who the fuck was interrupting my little moment of sleep?

As the door opened gently, I opened my eyes quickly and sat up, staring at the childish figure standing there. It was almost as if he was clutching onto the handle for dear life, with a hint of fear striking his eyes. Normally, Jack was always shaken up, but today in particular, it looked like his body was having a seizure. Probably just nervous because it had been his first day in the fifth grade in another school. With a simple roll of my eyes, I threw the cover's off me and sat at the edge of my bed and cocked my head to the side.

"A'right, brat. You interrupted my sleep once, and it ain't happenin' again. Wha'the hell do you want?" I retorted while watching him flinch at the tone of voice I used. Regardless, he stepped into my room and closed the door behind him. Afterwards, he almost leaped towards my direction, tackling me down to the bed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. The kid wasn't clinging at all. Actually, he didn't like to be around people at all. People thought he was just shy. I thought he was a pansy. Today in particular, he was acting weirder than normal. I don't know why though.

"Bobby..." He trailed off as he buried his head into my stomach, closing his eyes as I felt a faint tickle of liquid soak through my shirt, followed by a small trail of sobs. Was he crying?

He lifted his head up to look at me as he parted from my direction. At that moment, I glanced down at Jack at the same time, more specifically, towards the side of his head. Up until now, I didn't realize that he had a small cut on the corner of his temple, with dried blood surrounding it. His neck had minor bruising, along with his fingers irritated.

"The fuck happened to you? You run into the door on your way in or fall down the stairs?".

At this point, the boy would've been at least looking at me with a 'dirty look' or run away from my room. Either this kid was bi-polar or just had some kind of problem.

"Will you ever hit me?".

That question had caught me off guard completely. A question that left me a little speechless for a small fraction of a second. Sure enough, Jack could be a little annoying, but go as far as hitting the guy? I always fought with Jerry and Angel physically, but not to the point where I would bust their mouth or break something. Jack was a whole different story; even now, he looked as if he could break at any moment with the solemn expression in his eyes. Silence had become his answer, which seemed to disappoint him greatly. The kid sighed as he leaped off of my lap, walking over towards a jacket I had thrown over my rolling chair. He grabbed something out of his pockets and dug it inside of my jacket, and left the room afterwards. Now I know I never actually talked to the guy, but I knew him well enough to know that something had been bothering him. The simple look in his eyes were enough to be evidence.

A door slamming shut was heard from the hallway, coming from the room next to Mom's. It had to be Jack's room. I got up from my bed without bothering to fix the sheets, and walked out. I crossed down the hallway and turned the corner, heading straight towards Jack's room.

"Yo Jack. Open the door".

No answer.

"Jack! Open the door now".

Still no answer.

"Jack. I'm being fuckin' serious. Either you open this door right now, or I'll open it myself".

Again, no answer.

With a single punch to the door, I managed to knock it down, and invited myself inside the boy's room. What I found in front of me almost surprised me, to the point where I thought my eyes were gonna pop out of their sockets. Jack was on the ground without his shirt on, clutching it close to him. He was up against the far back corner of the room next to his bed, trembling furiously. The bruises around his neck caught my attention, but not like the bruises that he had all over his stomach.

As I was about to move, he quickly grabbed ahold of the baseball bat he had next to him on the ground, and clutched it in his tiny hands. Jack wasn't known for being violent or anywhere near intimidating, but he looked as if he was going to use that to defend himself against me.

'_Will you ever hit me?_'.

"I'm not gonna hit you, Jack. I'm your brother, alright? So just calm down, relax, and put the bat down. If I wanted to hit you, I would've done that the first day you got here" I snapped at him as I walked inside, yanking the bat from his grasp. I threw it to the side as I knelt down to his height in front of him, taking a better glance at the markings on his stomach. Did Mom see this on him before when she brought him home?

"What happened?".

Jack remained quiet for a short while, shaking his head several times. Once more, he threw his arms around my waist and held me in a tight embrace. It took me almost ten minutes to make the damn kid talk, but once I had found out the reason for his trembling, I felt something spark inside. Almost like a light switch on my head had been turned on, and bloomed with energy. The adrenaline was starting to build up slowly, along with the furry that sparked inside.

Tomorrow was sure as Hell going to be an interesting day. A day I'd be able to do something neat for once.

It was somewhere around two o'clock in the afternoon the next day, the time where elementary kids would go home once they were dismissed from their classrooms. How the hell did I know this? Let's just say I wasn't exactly in school right now. I was hiding behind the bushes right around the corner of Jack's school, patiently awaiting for him to walk out of the doors of his school. Numerous kids poured out of the building like ants, all heading towards different directions to theirhomes. Amongst the last few was Jack, grabbing ahold of his bookbag in front of him. He looked left and right frantically, afterwards running off towards the direction of the house. Silently, I followed right behind him, keeping a low cover just in case he saw me, or someone else saw me.

I had continued him for about a good five minutes, until there was a small chuckle breaking the silence. That chuckle seemed a little too familiar to me. It only made my curiousity grow more than it already had.

"Jack Mercer. I didn't think you'd be walking down my side of the street after yesterday's ordeal. Maybe I need to clarify that again".

That voice. Oh, that voice was enough to throw me off the edge. The next scene that played out in front of me from behind a fence was enough to make my blood boil. Enough to make me see blood in my eyes.

The dude's name was Anthony Doval. He was a senior in my school. Back two years ago when I was a freshman, he and I had a fight on the back of the school's parking lot. Ever since then, there's always been bad blood between us, to the point where he would frame me for things that happened in school and get me suspended. Because of my reputation in school, everyone believed him, resulting in him getting away with just about everything against me. When it came to the streets though, I owned him.

Anthony grabbed Jack from the shoulders roughly as he grinned, gripping him hard. So, he thought this was his street eh? Does he not realize who else lives in this fuckin' street? I knew where Anthony lived; he lived just ten houses down from where I lived since I lived on the very last house of the block. Not a lot of people knew where I lived since I never brought anyone over, and Jerry went to a different school than I did. Angel's friends knew we all lived here, but none of their siblings went to my school.

"Was I interruptin' somethin'?" I called out as I stepped out of my little hiding spot, walking with my hands dug inside of my pants pockets. Anthony had glanced at me with a surprised glance, almost as if he wasn't expecting for me to make a guest appearance in this scene. Surprises were always nice, especially if you were going to be part of the surprise.

"Bobby Mercer. Why don't you go along and take this runt back home to his mommy to take care of them bruises? Maybe they can take him to a clinic and get'em checked out".

Oh he was trying to pull a fast one on me.

I sniffed the air, ignoring the words that spilled out of his mouth. There was a foul stench in the air, something that was starting to burn the back of my throat, and make my hands tingle with a sense of irritation.

"You smell that, Tony?" I inquired, addressing him by his nickname as I looked back at him once I finished taking a nice whiff of the air.

"The fuck are you talkin' about, Mercer? What smell-"

I drove my right fist straight into his nose, knocking him down right onto the ground onto the snow pavement. I heard a crack once my fist came into contact with his nose, which made me grin at myself.

"Oh shit. I forgot! Your nose is broken! I didn't see that. You see, if you're nose was workin', you'd be able to smell the bullshit going around the air" I waved my hand in front of my nose as to dismiss the foul stench. From the ground, Anthony merely glanced at me with wide eyes, on the verge of getting up and ready to start a small fight yet again. This time, I stomped my foot down onto his chest, and knelt down to his height.

"Llet me make something clear".

My fist collided onto his cheek once more, seeing something white fly out of his mouth and onto the ground.

"Yo man, what the fuck is your-"

"Shut up and listen here, Tony. I ain't playing with your ass no more. If you ever see this kid cross this street ever again, you let him cross. Otherwise, I'll be doin' something else besides breaking your fuckin' nose".

I glanced to the side where the white item had fallen out, and grinned to myself. I grabbed ahold of the item, and placed it inside of Tony's mouth. The punch to his cheek really must've taken it's toll; he didn't do anything but simply let me do as I please.

"Let this a reminder of what happened today. I might be knockin' a couple of more teeth out and make you go to a dentist's office next time you hurt the kid".

I felt a tug on the right side of my hand as I grabbed ahold of Jack, and placed him on my back while keeping his legs locked around my arms, making my way back home.

For punishment of skipping school, I got a whole month of Saturday detention, along with five days of after school detention to clean up one of the classrooms until four o' clock. Peachy. Just fuckin' peachy. Mom didn't have the slightest clue of what had happened a few hours ago at all. It was better kept a secret rather than letting her know. I could take care of the bastard myself and make him scream for mercy.

Night time had quickly set itself in as I laid down on my bed, attempting to sleep. Angel and Jerry had already knocked out before Mom. Even she had knocked out kinda early today since it was a pretty rough day for her all together. That only left me awake. I never actually had good sleeps, or slept at all for that matter. No, I didn't have a sleeping disorder or anything; I just couldn't sleep at all. Every night for me was a restless night.

Knock knock knock.

The door opened afterwards. I didn't bother acknowledging who it had been. From the silence alone, I already knew who it had been.

"Afraid of the Boogeyman, Jackie-O?" I asked while glancing up at the sealing. For a moment or so, I didn't hear no source of noise except more thumps on the ground. They came to a sudden halt, until I felt movement right beside me. Jack nestled himself right beside me, placing an arm over my chest while his body pressed against mine for warmth and comfort. In the darkness of my room, I glanced down at the kid, and placed my hand right on top of his head.

"Why did you do that?" Jack had asked as he closed his eyes besides me, earning a small laugh from me. Was he really being serious?

"You may be one fuckin' annoying pint-sized brat. You may be a fuckin' fairy cause you don't talk a lot" I paused myself as I tilted my head slightly, ruffling that little messy mop-top hair of his.

"But you're my little brother, even if we ain't related by blood, Jackie. What kind of a brother would I be if I let someone bash you in the face, huh?".

A small giggle escaped him as I placed the cover over the kid. I knew he had come here for one reason and one reason alone. After that experience, Jack had felt safe around me, so sure that he would be protected by me at all costs. With my free hand, I dug into the inside of my shirt from the top side, grabbing out the small wooden cross that I had placed around my neck earlier today. This gift was from Jack. He had put this little gift inside of my jacket yesterday when I was asking him questions about what had happened to him. This had been his at one point when his father gave it to him when he was barely entering elementary ages. Since then, he's kept it around his neck. Now it was mine, given to me by the new addition of the family.

Jack Mercer.


End file.
